Whatever the outcome of the game, the Eagles head coach always will have a weird relationship with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the opponent today at Raymond James Stadium (1 p.m., Fox 29, WIP 94.1-FM).

At halftime the Bucs are celebrating the 10-year anniversary of their Super Bowl championship. They scheduled the ceremony to coincide with a visit from the head coach and the team they beat to get there.

Throw in the fact it could be Reid’s 100th career setback and some of the first responses from the mouths of Eagles players unaware of the timing are, “wow,” “really,” and “you’re reading too much into this.”

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Life is very much a conundrum for Reid, who not only is struggling as much as his players but in January 2003 was slammed by the Bucs for one of his most painful losses ever.

Eagles fans, players and coaches still flashback to Bucs receiver Joe Jurevicius running away from middle linebacker Barry Gardner. To Ronde Barber, still active with the Bucs, picking off Donovan McNabb and taking it to the house to seal the victory. To the Vet closing its doors forever following what was to be the win propelling Eagles Nation to its destiny.

“We had dominated Tampa,” then-Eagles linebacker Ike Reese said. “We had their number. And you go up 7-0 on a run by Duce (Staley). From that point on it seemed like the air went out of the offense. It’s like we won the game in the first quarter and we lost the other three.”

Instead it was the Bucs who stayed in the hotel a par-4 away from Torrey Pines and the Pacific Ocean. It was the Bucs who made chump change of the Oakland Raiders in the Super Bowl. And it was the Bucs who kissed the Lombardi Trophy … and who celebrate it all again today.

While few current Eagles players even remember the game, the 37-year-old Barber shares stories with his younger teammates. Like the 92-yard return he described to Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman, who is in the midst of a career year with 23 touchdown passes and just nine interceptions.

“We were talking about his top five favorite plays of all time and he brought up a certain interception return,” Freeman said. “That was crazy, man, because I grew up and I was a huge McNabb fan. Watching those two teams play, you loved the defense of the Bucs but at the same time you really liked watching McNabb. I really feel like the story lines for that season were very crazy and pretty interesting.”

For the Eagles, the storylines this season are all over the place.

With an eight-game losing streak and a 3-9 record, they’ve sunk so low that part of the conversation is Joe Kuharich, who guided them to an 0-11 start in 1968.

Reid is 11-17 (.393) in the last season and change, and 139-99-1 (.584) in 14 seasons with one year remaining on his contract — a year few believe he will work.

With Reid taking responsibility, the Eagles fired defensive coordinator Juan Castillo and defensive line coach Jim Washburn. They’re going with rookie quarterback Nick Foles the rest of the way no matter what phase of the concussion protocol veteran Michael Vick is in.

While Foles and rookie running back Bryce Brown, at least when he’s not fumbling the ball, have shown promise, they’ve been unable to stop the Eagles from losing.

The favored Buccaneers (6-6) still have a shot at the playoffs. Their focus should be sharper. While they don’t expect the Eagles to roll over, if you watch enough film it’s obvious this Andy Reid team always self-destructs.

“Watching the tape, you kind of wonder how all these big plays are happening because looking at them, yeah, the Eagles have had their injuries but they have some talent,” Freeman said. “The Eagles have the pieces. And they play hard. … This is a team that has a lot of firepower. They’ve got a lot of parts that are well-capable. We’ve just got to do everything we can to make sure they don’t put it all together when they’re down here playing us.”

Timing is everything. Some Eagles figure the timing of the Bucs reunion is “bull (bleep).” Others think media members are reading too much into it.

Regardless, there’s no way out for Reid. The bad feeling he had in his gut is sure to return today when members of that Bucs title team are introduced to the crowd at Raymond James Stadium. The list is enough to make Eagles fans reach for the air sickness bag. There are Jon Gruden, Warren Sapp, Mike Alstott, Derrick Brooks and Keyshawn Johnson, among others. The quarterback who beat the Eagles was Brad Johnson.

“We were disappointed not to go to the Super Bowl,” Reid said. “I was happy for Jon when it was all said and done. That’s not my focus. My focus is on winning this game.”

Along those lines, rookie NFL head coach Greg Schiano and the Bucs are 0-3 against the NFC East. They easily could be 3-0, as well.

The Bucs are on a two-game losing streak triggered by a difficult 24-23 loss to the NFC South-leading Atlanta Falcons.

The Eagles want to avert their horrific flight south.

And Andy Reid can only pray that when he writes his book someday, the unpleasant milestone he never dreamed of reaching wasn’t etched in stone by the franchise that robbed him of a glorious destiny.

“The game at that time stuck in my craw,” Reid said. “Right now? I want to play this team and play well against this team.”